Call me crazy but when you enter the stairwell 36:54 you can see that it says maximum occupancy 988, which is the suicide lifeline number, and it let him jump off the stairwell to where we then delete all of our memories. THINK ABOUT IT
As someone about to graduate with my psych degree this was a fun game. This is definitely about grief and anxiety, and the monster is probably some type of mental representation of those feelings. I think this is Caleb (either child or adult) processing repressed memories (also called associative amnesia) and his mind trying to protect it self from the memories it hasn’t reworked and deemed “safe”. The “memory in progress” makes me think this as people do change and adapt memories to be more accessible. Something similar to this is a treatment for people living with PTSD (called accelerated resolution therapy), as you are trying to make the fear and bad emotions associated with a memory be distant and not have such a harsh impact. Maybe caleb is in therapy and this is him working through these traumatic memories. Also the hallway section when the walls are getting closer reminds me of the idea that “grief is suffocating” as Caleb is literally having to squeeze through the gaps. Ok I’m done.
@Bananavr44 have you ever played or seen superliminal? the company behind that game could have a branch for therapy and thats why its so simulation like
@highsourjamapple9141 YES like when your body tries to hide the bad feelings even when sometimes you just gotta feel em out this game genuinely did such a good impersonation of like our mind and the voice in our head
I think the dad killed Lilly and is now coming after Caleb. The ‘monster’ might actually be the dad, which would explain why Lilly’s body was crossed out on the locker room papers. It also explains why we sometimes see a boy and a little girl. Just my theory lol
Dude fr I remember exactly how I felt when he let that shit fly in the last video. Had to pause the video ngl but mostly due to laughter I was dying thinking about how j could smell that shit emanating from my charger port
39:50 I feel like when the guy said “not everything” and “I can find another way” maybe Caleb really shut himself off as in maybe committing suicide to escape all the monsters of his past and trauma, and it could have been so overwhelming to the point where in order to forget it all, he had to take himself with the memories
22:40 honestly the best part about this minigame that makes it stand out and so much scarier is how theres no jumpscare on repeat every time you die. its just suddenly you go black screen and it resets. phenomenal game design
minigame should have checkpoints imo but very cool nonetheless with the silence and atmosphere EDIT: considering it’s the last stage for the ending I think no checkpoints is fine
@ryoryoryosuper I somewhat agree? though I do feel like the punishing feeling of failing should be there too. constant checkpoints making you feel safe to fail and over the top jumpscares that happen every death feels too typical for horror games nowadays, I liked how it felt genuinely punishing by failing
Hey yall doctoral candidate for clinical psychology here. After reading through yalls comments on this video and the last video, I have some theories. This will probably be a long comment and I wont really include that much psychology related stuff (unless yall want more so lmk), but I wanted to share. I think that this is all some form of therapy that Caleb is doing. Someone mentioned that the voice could be an older version of Caleb and that’s what triggered my idea for the theory. Trigger warning for something in the last paragraph. There’s different forms of trauma therapy, there is trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure, and some combination of these plus some other therapeutic techniques. Going off of what someone said about the voice being older Caleb, it made me think of two therapies that could be going on, EMDR and schema therapy. EMDR is basically designed to alleviate distress from traumatic memories by using bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or sounds) to help the brain reprocess trapped memories. Schema therapy involves a few different things, but one modification for trauma related stuff is that it uses techniques like imagery, rescripting, chair work (where you externalize and basically talk to the emotion or reaction and sometimes the clinician acts as the “thing” that gives you push back and you have to retort) , and reparenting to help clients process trauma and build a "healthy adult". I kinda feel like this is what might be going on as like the underlying theme. Caleb probably had something/did something that impacted his sister Lily and these bad memories are still haunting him as an adult. One of the things you do in EMDR is basically set yourself a “safe place” like a pleasant memory, something you enjoyed doing, or just something nice in general (like a calm beach) that way you can lead yourself slowly into the traumatic stuff or fall back if things get too intense. Maybe the memories of the water park, the bounce house, etc are the “safe-places” that Old Caleb is guiding Young Caleb through. He’s still getting reminders or images (i.e. the intrusive thoughts the narrator keeps mentioning) regarding his sister (like the random signs, the ribbon, the laughter of both a boy and girl, etc), and old caleb is guiding young caleb through them (by putting in those “mental safeguards”) where he recognizes that those memories are coming, but he’s not ready to processes them YET. Hence at the pit ending, we finally see the big monster, i.e. the actual traumatic event or the "manifestation" of his guilt face to face, meaning that Caleb is probably ready to face it head on instead of avoid, BUT physically he may not be ready, which is why we hear like heavy breathing, the camera shakes, etc because Older Caleb is starting to get panicked or having a panic attack (maybe idk im just theorizing here). The other endings in this tie it in a different way. The rotten ending is probably something along the lines of he failed or gave up on the therapy, and the memories keep “rotting” away at his mind because he keeps thinking about them. The memory lane ending is what i interpreted as like him avoiding it, like distracting himself with things. The erase may be (from my end) a bit more morbid, like maybe he committed suicide as a way to stop the memories (this one isnt the strongest but I wanted to toss it). Hope this kinda sorta made sense, but I wanna see what yall think of this or if there are other ideas!!!
I felt the same about the erase ending. I dont have a psych degree or anything, but it feels like he was finally "shutting down" his brain and the memories with them.
This was fun to read, thankyou for the explanation! off topic but, I'm interested to becoming a psychologist, do you have any tips/the things i have to learn? thanks!
The erase ending is suicide. The stairwell right before he enters the room of screens shows max occupancy of 988 which I thought had to be a clue when I played it cause it was an odd thing to put there, but didn't know what at the time. Found out that's the suicide hotline number. Not only that but jumping over the rails to land several floors down is realistically a suicide.
17:14 idk if u noticed but the ac brand was called “Yourfault” and that could have to do with smth that happened in his childhood that he blames himself for
7:50 okay I'm not far into the video, but I think the monster is an embodiment of guilt, since something obviously happened to his (younger?) sister Lily. like some silent Hill type stuff, since this is all technically in his mind. And going back to 4:07 you can hear what I can assume is Caleb's parent/guardian talking about something he did, which probably involves the sister in question, so he's definitely trying to not remember some sort of accident. And a little bit later you can see 4:40 that a section called "Lily" had been forced open, like what the monster could've come out of. That sector (I think) being the memories of his sister which have morphed from happy to gut-wrenching. And the embodiment of his guilt coming out of that section in his mind. Even before entering that section in his previous video, the section is labeled "deep storage.." there was something else that I forgot but it's the deep parts of his memories he's buried and is now going back into. all speculation tho haha edit: this is the most likes I've ever got on a comment tysm 🥹
the thing is, when he found the vhs tape and it played when the door got to caleb, it looked like caleb was recording and as kids u would usually want to record small things during ur life. which is why i think we can see some guy/kid with glasses in the beginning of the tape, and right after we're in a car but we aren't driving or in the passenger; we're in the back passenger seats and u can see the radio then it pans over to the window out to the woods and the next clip is the car looking as if it was tipped over or we had gotten into some sort of crash. i also think the monster is his guilt coming towards him because its eating him up that something traumatic happened to him and the lily fragments as well as it being depicted as shes just some "ghost", he remembers lily but only partially. AND THE LIGHT WHERE THAT BLACK HAND MAKES LIGHT, where the garage door was forced open with it labeled lily, i think its lily. the narrator didnt help nor did the monster. it was a black gooey figure and where lilys door was, theres a whole trail of just black goo. dude i need chp 2 now
It probably happened in the starting room where you play the "knocking minigame" with the knocking being the parent. Which would make additional sense because the narrator said that room specifically was associated with soul-crushing guilt.
I have a theory that Caleb os responsible for the death of his sister. Or best friend. And he feels guilty about it and cant fix it. The memories we see are the ones that he shares with her. Thats why we see their black shadows as we progress.
And the monster, as we've all agreed i think, is portraying guilt, anxiety, insecurity. What if we've been wallowing in our guilt so much that is LITERALLY EATING US ALIVE??? It attacks everytime we start thinking too much about our sister/bestie. And we run because we dont want to be consumed by guilt?
Sorry Ive been commenting a lot. BUT! what if we also have a split personality disorder from what happened to Lily?? We knoe that the narrator is inside Caleb's head... And what if we tried to do something to ourselves, ended up in a coma, and now Caled, or us, has to try and not let guilt consume us in order to survive whatever we did??
21:33 i think this aspect of the game is a perfect representation of being scared as a kid. It’s like when you had turn the lights off and run upstairs because you were scared something was chasing you. It’s the little things in the corner of your eyes. That just subtle unease.
the thing thats makes this game 20x more terrifying is that i feel like ive been in almost all these places, like theyre so weirdly nostalgic and familiar which makes sense, the definition of liminal and all, but STILL. its so good.
39:12 my conspiracy is that the narrator is our older self trying to like help his past self recover over trauma by making him forget it all (I don’t have much evidence for this but if you listen here it kind of helps)
i think its the opposite, the narrator is himself guiding his inner child to remember and not forget, thats why the narrator was against the erased ending (i think)
44:15 Something happened in 2018!!!! At first with this scene in 4:06 I thought that maybe it had been a child abuse situation but the yelling sounds more panicked to me like maybe Lily and Caleb were in the same room but wouldnt open the door. I also think this may be the full memory that we keep circling back to with the door minigame.
46:59 I remember when I was ready to watch a new Jacksepticeye vid, or a Markiplier vid, when I was a little youngen. Looking at those old vids and 3FS's vids now, this dude is exactly what little me needed growing up, and what other kids/people need now. Rough home life? Pop a 3FS vid. Bad breakup? Pop a 3FS vid. My friends don't have the same humor, but I had them watch one of this dude's videos, I think it's like "Don't Scream" or something, and even they laughed a few times. You could have the worst day of your life and this dude will somehow manage to make you crack a little smile. Genuinely so proud to say that this dude is my favorite RUclipsr, along with his friends. I see the RUclipsrs I grew up with reflect through him, and I strongly believe he's gonna get to the same level as them. Numbers don't entirely matter, but 3FS deserves the fans and recognition for how good of a person and role model he genuinely is. (SPECIFICALLY GOOD FANS. SOME OF Y'ALL NEED TO GET YOUR ACTS TOGETHER, C'MON!) But seriously, it makes me happy knowing some kid out there might be going through it, just like I was, and 3FS is able to help them escape reality for a little with at least a couple laughs. Plus, the merch is fire...like come on.
12:00 What if the monster gets associated with different times of Caleb's parents/family members. The monster helping him could have been Lily, the one hunched over the barrel could be a memory of his mom or dad throwing up and getting mad that he was there
3fs it is a blessing to have you on this earth, you make my day every time you post, you have good values your funny and you care, I have been watching for a couple years now I admit I have not been here for 5 years but I've been a long time fan and take this to heart because I don't usually watch EVERY video someone posts but you're the first and only currently, and I've made it my mission to watch all of your videos lol. But, yeah 3fs thank you, we love you ❤
here is my theory. the doors with all the numbers from 2005-2025 are either Caleb's age (born in '05 and is currently in 25-26) or a series of events that led to the monsters creation (since he's in that area sleeping) when you look at the high scores for lily, you see that her highest is 2018, showing that she couldn't get past that, but 2018 lies on between 2005 and 2025, so I'm assuming something happened to lily in 2018, and maybe she's an older sister that was born in 2005 or vise versa. multiple times 2 kids are shown to be playing, watching tv, and other things. Its pretty obvious that these are Lily and Caleb, and Caleb is reliving his memories with lily. The narrator is trying to divert Caleb's attention from lily, like the truth or the monster, which is why he doesn't talk about it, and tries to end it at the end. it seems like the narrator doesn't like lily, or that he doesn't want Caleb to remember what happened to her, maybe. but in every area where we learned the truth about lily, the monster is there, sleeping, hunting, and even in the house. Why would the monster play such a huge role in Caleb's memories? I think that Lily IS the monster, and the narrator is either the dad, or Caleb's conscience, trying to divert Caleb AWAY from the Lily-monster. there's a scene with a car that got in a crash, with a frozen image that to me looks like a humanoid figure running. if Lily was born in 2005, that would mean she's 13, if something DID happen to her in 2018, which would put her at a safe age to drive in the front seat, or practice driving in some states, with her father or mother. was she the one that crashed, or the father? also there's the door. the father is heard yelling, "what did you do, open the door." Its obvious the father is mad, and trying to hurt the kid behind the door. maybe the father was drunk, causing him to crash then return home in a rage that led him to do something to his daughter in 2018? or did CALEB do something to lily and the father is trying to confront him? if that's the case, maybe the monster IS lily, or an amalgamation of her that keeps reminding Caleb of his past. the narrator might represent the father, cuz when Caleb goes toward the alternate endings, he asks "what are you doing" in a fit of rage, like the father asks "what did you do" in the same way. if that's true then the narrator is the father, trying to face Caleb AWAY from the monster and, in guilt, refusing to acknowledge what happened to lily, just like he refuses to acknowledge the monster. also the narrator says things like "i corrected all your mistakes and kept you in the right path" which is something fitting the role of a father of a 13 YEAR OLD KID. if that's true then the MONSTER is LILY, trying to claw its way back into Caleb's memories, and show him the truth. which would explain why the narrator gets pulled away when going into the alternate paths, because they are places the father cant reach, or is AFRAID to reach.
Yo its actually crazy how this game puts together the environment. This dude always like "this environment is insane," that's because in the very beginning they tell you its Caleb's mind. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT WHEN YOU PUT IT ALL TOGETHER BRO. THE NARRATOR HINTING TO "GUILT" INSTEAD OF FEAR??? LILY??? THE DOOR SAYING "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???"
Do you ever notice how sometimes we grow with games? It’s so sweet to watch, I’m a new-ish fan but I watch your older videos too and I see you when you were younger playing games that are still adding more to their games, it’s so sweet to watch. To see how far you’ve truly come despite me not even being a fan for too long. You deserve to be proud of yourself! ❤️❤️ (Sorry if my grammars butt cheeks on a stick, I’m trying man😭🥀 motivational or what guys, am I right?)
I noticed the same thing, and not just with this channel. I've been watching many channels since I was a kid. It's great when you grow up with a channel, as if the channel is like a friend with whom you grow up and learn new, more complex details about life.
I don't know if you'll see this Max, but I just survived a school shooting. I'm not lying, I wish, I truly wish I was. I'm genuinely thankful I got out alive, I can still see the guy pointing the gun at me. I'm scared to sleep now, but I'm going to try while listening to this. I love you, Max. You're a great RUclipsr and a greater man. Thank you for existing, for being real.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how kind and thoughtful this guy is? He’s always so careful with his words, even when he has some criticism about the game-he stays fair, never over the top, and always has something good to say about everyone. You’re a true gentleman, honestly you should take a moment to look at yourself and be proud. You’re honestly so inspirational to me-we’re the same age, and during my time on RUclips I’ve heard so much swearing and so many forced jokes just to get laughs. Then you came along and completely changed what ‘entertaining’ means here. You’ve shown that you don’t need all that-you just need to be genuine, kind, and transparent. Thank you for really make a difference in this world!! love you❤
4:14 ok its clearly that this game is about trauma or abuse Like Caleb suffered some kind of trauma so the voice is tryin to help him to get tru it..even tho sometimes forgeting about it is worse than actualy confronting it
42:51 something to note here is this pixel image looks like a little girl asking for help, possibly drowning? This only shows up once in the “demon mode” and the happy song stops. Could this be Lily? And then when you beat the top high score (which is Lily’s) it turns into just a balloon pixel image and then the monster. I’m sure there are implications here of what it could mean but I’m not sure what
I think I congratulated you on your first Subliminal video about your #8 on trending, and I think it's so cool seeing you grow as a creator, such as seeing you reach 1 mil and being recognized by Cory and Jacksepticeye. I started watching you when Secret of the Mimic, and ever since then, I just loved watching your videos, and I can just tell you put so much effort and love into putting something out there that is actually good and entertaining while still being you and being genuine. I love what you do and will forever support!!
Same here! I saw a clip of him cranking one of the generators in SotM and just knew he was a funny guy. I've stayed here since and I'm just really happy to see him grow as a creator and person!
![ЦИФРОВОЙ ЦИРК 9 СЕРИЯ Финал [ТРЕЙЛЕР] Реакция](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fqzypkJo5qU/mqdefault.jpg)
i was messing you up twin you can't lie ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
Joined 13 hours ago, welcome to earth buddy
Hey, you with the pretty face
Welcome to the human race!
Raw, next question
@Adriana_candybitzjump
@Adriana_candybitz why would you even think of saying something so foul
Your headphones need they own ending like they scarier than the game 😭✌️
son
The duct tape is dyeing too 😭💔
I like this creativity about the headphones
I'm a spoon
At this point, his headphones are just gonna be duct tape, ALL DUCT TAPE
7:18 bro left us in the dark 😭✌
Why though?
he lost his camera in the dark XD.
@GoNo117 youtubes ai moderation probably detected some "sexual content" or smth
I THOUGHT MY PHONE TURNED OFF-
@GoNo117 i think he used the clip later and accidently removed it. at 8:12 you can see the removed clip
42:25 Dude we NEED a full version of that song
@CMDROVERHEAVEN that’s what I’m SAYINGGGGG
IK ITS SO FIREEEEE
bro i cant stop thinking about this banger
I made a full version on my channel!
@Cråck_Head161 Full version on my channel :)
Call me crazy but when you enter the stairwell 36:54 you can see that it says maximum occupancy 988, which is the suicide lifeline number, and it let him jump off the stairwell to where we then delete all of our memories. THINK ABOUT IT
There's also parts where the exit signs show "no exit" in the water reflection on the ground. They knew what they were doing with every detail
@HarmonicMermaid timestamp?
WAIT I HEAR YOU WTH
7:18 bro removed my eyes too 😂
Bro it scared me so bad
I thought I was tweaking 😭😭
Fr
Thought my internet wasn’t working again acting up again lol
i thought it was an ad break 😭😭
7:17 lil buddy found the void 😔
He went too deep into the memories 😭
As someone about to graduate with my psych degree this was a fun game. This is definitely about grief and anxiety, and the monster is probably some type of mental representation of those feelings. I think this is Caleb (either child or adult) processing repressed memories (also called associative amnesia) and his mind trying to protect it self from the memories it hasn’t reworked and deemed “safe”. The “memory in progress” makes me think this as people do change and adapt memories to be more accessible. Something similar to this is a treatment for people living with PTSD (called accelerated resolution therapy), as you are trying to make the fear and bad emotions associated with a memory be distant and not have such a harsh impact. Maybe caleb is in therapy and this is him working through these traumatic memories. Also the hallway section when the walls are getting closer reminds me of the idea that “grief is suffocating” as Caleb is literally having to squeeze through the gaps. Ok I’m done.
i think the voice is Caleb's therapist
But also they said "patent pending" isn't that used for company's? could Caleb be in a simulation type of thing?
@Bananavr44 have you ever played or seen superliminal? the company behind that game could have a branch for therapy and thats why its so simulation like
Thank you teacher 🫡
@mr.pumpkin8891. that would make a lot of sense considering he tries to maintain a soothing voice
41:39 bro getting straight teeth 😭😭😭
Legendary comment find
I was looking for this comment
He made a statement so real, even his gang appreciated him
Sorry y'all went feral on his shi
45:30 seeing 3fs without headset is like seeing him bald
4:12 yeah, this is definitely a kid who’s subconscious is trying to repress traumatic memories as a defense mechanism
Yeah and each level is a more traumatic memory
And the narrator is making me think he's making Caleb just focus on the happy stuff instead of coming to terms with his trauma
@highsourjamapple9141 YES like when your body tries to hide the bad feelings even when sometimes you just gotta feel em out this game genuinely did such a good impersonation of like our mind and the voice in our head
@highsourjamapple9141i think the narrator is calebs therapist
I think the dad killed Lilly and is now coming after Caleb. The ‘monster’ might actually be the dad, which would explain why Lilly’s body was crossed out on the locker room papers. It also explains why we sometimes see a boy and a little girl. Just my theory lol
headphones GENUINELY contacting the mothership 😭😭💔💔
Next time they boutta be in two pieces 😭
@koolwithakYT bro they BEEN in two pieces 💔
@koolwithakYT they been in two pieces, he just taped them together 😭
@Izzy.k. they been in like a gazilion peaces if you remove the tapes it becomes dust
1:00 the fart flashback was not needed. I could smell it through my screen bro.
Dude fr I remember exactly how I felt when he let that shit fly in the last video. Had to pause the video ngl but mostly due to laughter I was dying thinking about how j could smell that shit emanating from my charger port
bro real
that shit got me dying laughing bro. The fact that he did a fart recap is so random
@DakiiwiiEMANATING FROM MY CHARGER PORT 😭😭😭😭😭
well lucky you
39:50 I feel like when the guy said “not everything” and “I can find another way” maybe Caleb really shut himself off as in maybe committing suicide to escape all the monsters of his past and trauma, and it could have been so overwhelming to the point where in order to forget it all, he had to take himself with the memories
did 3FS even finish that ending or did the game just crash before he was even able to finish it
@FL_MENTALITYI think it closed on him bc he said he didn’t get the badge for the ending
@Hearts42i just looked it up and it did that for another youtuber so its intentional
@FL_MENTALITYohhh okay
EXACTLYYY
In 7:25 it cut out the jump scare, still peak game play
@curtiscausa7132 I think that was an editing mistake it was never cut out for me
21:52 do NOT recommend washing your face while watching this…brahhh I opened my eyes to see bro coming at me 😭
💀💀 I hope you are ok now ....
@Ramona4lyfeicl I was fighting demons
17:41 why did the monster pull up to the door like😭: yo what's good can I borrow something real quick
@alicstarnesNO FR like Ive already lost one of my senses washing my face why when I gain them back do you feel the need to make me piss myself
LMAOO this is an original experience for sure
22:40 honestly the best part about this minigame that makes it stand out and so much scarier is how theres no jumpscare on repeat every time you die. its just suddenly you go black screen and it resets. phenomenal game design
minigame should have checkpoints imo but very cool nonetheless with the silence and atmosphere
EDIT: considering it’s the last stage for the ending I think no checkpoints is fine
@ryoryoryosuper I somewhat agree? though I do feel like the punishing feeling of failing should be there too. constant checkpoints making you feel safe to fail and over the top jumpscares that happen every death feels too typical for horror games nowadays, I liked how it felt genuinely punishing by failing
Sometimes less is more
31:19 did anyone notice that the rules spell out “ROTTEN”?✌️🥀
@mitchvelasco328 not until u said anything 😭 ur vision is so freaking good
genuinely how did you spot that one🥀
Rotten apple? Caleb must be an Alice In Chains fan
bro legit has super vision cus what the helly how does one spot such a thing
@mitchvelasco328 dawg how do you even notice that 😭💔
23:56 "TURN THE TV OFF" "I didn't know I'm supposed to do that"
42:33 need a 3FS on this motherflickin beat moment bro
I made a full version on my channel! Not as good as 3FS but I tried lol
42:22 this beautiful please release the song !!!
I KNEW ID FIND THIS COMMENT
he lowkey ate w this I cant lie, just wish he kept goin fr
Tobuscus/LHUGUENY ahh music 😂 Low-key fire tho sing it Big 3 🔥 🔥
He actually ate it up, not gonna lie
FR HE NEEDS TO
29:20 the devs DEFINITELY made the eyes do that on purpose
WOAH thank you for pointing that out. I love seeing little things like that in which I missed
Hey yall doctoral candidate for clinical psychology here. After reading through yalls comments on this video and the last video, I have some theories. This will probably be a long comment and I wont really include that much psychology related stuff (unless yall want more so lmk), but I wanted to share. I think that this is all some form of therapy that Caleb is doing. Someone mentioned that the voice could be an older version of Caleb and that’s what triggered my idea for the theory. Trigger warning for something in the last paragraph.
There’s different forms of trauma therapy, there is trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure, and some combination of these plus some other therapeutic techniques. Going off of what someone said about the voice being older Caleb, it made me think of two therapies that could be going on, EMDR and schema therapy.
EMDR is basically designed to alleviate distress from traumatic memories by using bilateral stimulation (eye movements, taps, or sounds) to help the brain reprocess trapped memories. Schema therapy involves a few different things, but one modification for trauma related stuff is that it uses techniques like imagery, rescripting, chair work (where you externalize and basically talk to the emotion or reaction and sometimes the clinician acts as the “thing” that gives you push back and you have to retort) , and reparenting to help clients process trauma and build a "healthy adult".
I kinda feel like this is what might be going on as like the underlying theme. Caleb probably had something/did something that impacted his sister Lily and these bad memories are still haunting him as an adult. One of the things you do in EMDR is basically set yourself a “safe place” like a pleasant memory, something you enjoyed doing, or just something nice in general (like a calm beach) that way you can lead yourself slowly into the traumatic stuff or fall back if things get too intense. Maybe the memories of the water park, the bounce house, etc are the “safe-places” that Old Caleb is guiding Young Caleb through. He’s still getting reminders or images (i.e. the intrusive thoughts the narrator keeps mentioning) regarding his sister (like the random signs, the ribbon, the laughter of both a boy and girl, etc), and old caleb is guiding young caleb through them (by putting in those “mental safeguards”) where he recognizes that those memories are coming, but he’s not ready to processes them YET. Hence at the pit ending, we finally see the big monster, i.e. the actual traumatic event or the "manifestation" of his guilt face to face, meaning that Caleb is probably ready to face it head on instead of avoid, BUT physically he may not be ready, which is why we hear like heavy breathing, the camera shakes, etc because Older Caleb is starting to get panicked or having a panic attack (maybe idk im just theorizing here).
The other endings in this tie it in a different way. The rotten ending is probably something along the lines of he failed or gave up on the therapy, and the memories keep “rotting” away at his mind because he keeps thinking about them. The memory lane ending is what i interpreted as like him avoiding it, like distracting himself with things. The erase may be (from my end) a bit more morbid, like maybe he committed suicide as a way to stop the memories (this one isnt the strongest but I wanted to toss it). Hope this kinda sorta made sense, but I wanna see what yall think of this or if there are other ideas!!!
this was such a good explanation!
I felt the same about the erase ending. I dont have a psych degree or anything, but it feels like he was finally "shutting down" his brain and the memories with them.
This was fun to read, thankyou for the explanation!
off topic but, I'm interested to becoming a psychologist, do you have any tips/the things i have to learn? thanks!
random but I noticed at 19:30 it spells out EMDR!
The erase ending is suicide. The stairwell right before he enters the room of screens shows max occupancy of 988 which I thought had to be a clue when I played it cause it was an odd thing to put there, but didn't know what at the time. Found out that's the suicide hotline number. Not only that but jumping over the rails to land several floors down is realistically a suicide.
42:21 We need a full version bro ( this goes so hard )
42:20 PELASE MAKE THIS INTO A FULL MUSIC RELEASE
47:00 This speech was very wholesome, almost making me cry lowk.
no fr im getting emotional over here 😭💗
17:14 idk if u noticed but the ac brand was called “Yourfault” and that could have to do with smth that happened in his childhood that he blames himself for
Yeah something definitely happened with his little sister
@Super_ggbrohe probably was either abused or he merked his sister
7:50 okay I'm not far into the video, but I think the monster is an embodiment of guilt, since something obviously happened to his (younger?) sister Lily. like some silent Hill type stuff, since this is all technically in his mind. And going back to 4:07 you can hear what I can assume is Caleb's parent/guardian talking about something he did, which probably involves the sister in question, so he's definitely trying to not remember some sort of accident. And a little bit later you can see 4:40 that a section called "Lily" had been forced open, like what the monster could've come out of. That sector (I think) being the memories of his sister which have morphed from happy to gut-wrenching. And the embodiment of his guilt coming out of that section in his mind. Even before entering that section in his previous video, the section is labeled "deep storage.." there was something else that I forgot but it's the deep parts of his memories he's buried and is now going back into. all speculation tho haha
edit: this is the most likes I've ever got on a comment tysm 🥹
you freaking genius you
the thing is, when he found the vhs tape and it played when the door got to caleb, it looked like caleb was recording and as kids u would usually want to record small things during ur life. which is why i think we can see some guy/kid with glasses in the beginning of the tape, and right after we're in a car but we aren't driving or in the passenger; we're in the back passenger seats and u can see the radio then it pans over to the window out to the woods and the next clip is the car looking as if it was tipped over or we had gotten into some sort of crash. i also think the monster is his guilt coming towards him because its eating him up that something traumatic happened to him and the lily fragments as well as it being depicted as shes just some "ghost", he remembers lily but only partially. AND THE LIGHT WHERE THAT BLACK HAND MAKES LIGHT, where the garage door was forced open with it labeled lily, i think its lily. the narrator didnt help nor did the monster. it was a black gooey figure and where lilys door was, theres a whole trail of just black goo. dude i need chp 2 now
Took the theory right out of my mouth😭
It probably happened in the starting room where you play the "knocking minigame" with the knocking being the parent. Which would make additional sense because the narrator said that room specifically was associated with soul-crushing guilt.
Subliminal is a silent hill follower is an insane take but yk I see it
19:10 Narrator getting rage baited😭✌
42:27 that singing part actually sounded majestic
April fools guys, this video isn’t real
42:39 holy freestyle 🔥🔥🔥
Was about to go to sleep until I saw the notification. WE UP 🗣️🔥🔥
I'm a spoon
@MysticalSPOONmaybe fpoon
This game is “FNAF 4” and “The Backrooms” combined bro..
..it’s peak
Hi
@DeonCaldwell-f6yI KNOW. I LOVE IT SM. MIGHT BE MY SECOND FAV GAME THIS YEAR LWK AFTER RE9. I HOPE THEY MAKE THE SECOND ONE!
20:23 how did he NOT see that
That's what I'm saying in the dark hall right?
I have a theory that Caleb os responsible for the death of his sister. Or best friend. And he feels guilty about it and cant fix it. The memories we see are the ones that he shares with her. Thats why we see their black shadows as we progress.
And the monster, as we've all agreed i think, is portraying guilt, anxiety, insecurity. What if we've been wallowing in our guilt so much that is LITERALLY EATING US ALIVE??? It attacks everytime we start thinking too much about our sister/bestie. And we run because we dont want to be consumed by guilt?
Sorry Ive been commenting a lot. BUT! what if we also have a split personality disorder from what happened to Lily?? We knoe that the narrator is inside Caleb's head...
And what if we tried to do something to ourselves, ended up in a coma, and now Caled, or us, has to try and not let guilt consume us in order to survive whatever we did??
It’s most definitely his sister, especially with the “what did you do” part, that’s what it seems like to me anyway
21:33 i think this aspect of the game is a perfect representation of being scared as a kid. It’s like when you had turn the lights off and run upstairs because you were scared something was chasing you. It’s the little things in the corner of your eyes. That just subtle unease.
0:00 already got me cackling and slapping my belly
cant forget the toe tickling ✌✌
slapping your what
@Literally_a_burger no we.. we CAN forget that
11:55 give him a crystal ball with the way he's predicting these events.
44:00 I don't have food but i took a sip of redbull to help you fly better
my body was itching for this upload
chud
@user889253fs fandom really going downhill.
My penis was itching for this upload
I’m sorry
Just report me for terrorism
23:47 it might be time for some new headphones..
the thing thats makes this game 20x more terrifying is that i feel like ive been in almost all these places, like theyre so weirdly nostalgic and familiar
which makes sense, the definition of liminal and all, but STILL. its so good.
42:45 I noticed that the boy in the game could possibly be Caleb. If you look at the balloon it’s Walter
24:50 whole entire thing reminding me of the joy of creation
7:17 baflam cursed me with blindness 255
29:16 bro got jumpscared by a plushie ☠☠ Son im Dead 🧟⚰👖☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠☠
39:12 my conspiracy is that the narrator is our older self trying to like help his past self recover over trauma by making him forget it all (I don’t have much evidence for this but if you listen here it kind of helps)
i think its the opposite, the narrator is himself guiding his inner child to remember and not forget, thats why the narrator was against the erased ending (i think)
42:36 nahhh GIVE ME A WHOLE SONG NOW I NEED IT UNC
18:28 bro started predicting them like young blue man 😭😭😭
44:15 Something happened in 2018!!!! At first with this scene in 4:06 I thought that maybe it had been a child abuse situation but the yelling sounds more panicked to me like maybe Lily and Caleb were in the same room but wouldnt open the door. I also think this may be the full memory that we keep circling back to with the door minigame.
46:59 I remember when I was ready to watch a new Jacksepticeye vid, or a Markiplier vid, when I was a little youngen. Looking at those old vids and 3FS's vids now, this dude is exactly what little me needed growing up, and what other kids/people need now. Rough home life? Pop a 3FS vid. Bad breakup? Pop a 3FS vid. My friends don't have the same humor, but I had them watch one of this dude's videos, I think it's like "Don't Scream" or something, and even they laughed a few times. You could have the worst day of your life and this dude will somehow manage to make you crack a little smile. Genuinely so proud to say that this dude is my favorite RUclipsr, along with his friends. I see the RUclipsrs I grew up with reflect through him, and I strongly believe he's gonna get to the same level as them. Numbers don't entirely matter, but 3FS deserves the fans and recognition for how good of a person and role model he genuinely is. (SPECIFICALLY GOOD FANS. SOME OF Y'ALL NEED TO GET YOUR ACTS TOGETHER, C'MON!) But seriously, it makes me happy knowing some kid out there might be going through it, just like I was, and 3FS is able to help them escape reality for a little with at least a couple laughs. Plus, the merch is fire...like come on.
41:33 hmm thats weird..must be a glitch in the game
1:11 "am I getting too old" just you wait buddy
12:00 What if the monster gets associated with different times of Caleb's parents/family members. The monster helping him could have been Lily, the one hunched over the barrel could be a memory of his mom or dad throwing up and getting mad that he was there
3fs it is a blessing to have you on this earth, you make my day every time you post, you have good values your funny and you care, I have been watching for a couple years now I admit I have not been here for 5 years but I've been a long time fan and take this to heart because I don't usually watch EVERY video someone posts but you're the first and only currently, and I've made it my mission to watch all of your videos lol. But, yeah 3fs thank you, we love you ❤
smoke detector sounds in the house part made my dog tweak 😭
i thought i was the only one who noticed that 😂
7:18 WE WENT BLIND FOR A SECOND 😭😭
here is my theory. the doors with all the numbers from 2005-2025 are either Caleb's age (born in '05 and is currently in 25-26) or a series of events that led to the monsters creation (since he's in that area sleeping) when you look at the high scores for lily, you see that her highest is 2018, showing that she couldn't get past that, but 2018 lies on between 2005 and 2025, so I'm assuming something happened to lily in 2018, and maybe she's an older sister that was born in 2005 or vise versa. multiple times 2 kids are shown to be playing, watching tv, and other things. Its pretty obvious that these are Lily and Caleb, and Caleb is reliving his memories with lily. The narrator is trying to divert Caleb's attention from lily, like the truth or the monster, which is why he doesn't talk about it, and tries to end it at the end. it seems like the narrator doesn't like lily, or that he doesn't want Caleb to remember what happened to her, maybe. but in every area where we learned the truth about lily, the monster is there, sleeping, hunting, and even in the house. Why would the monster play such a huge role in Caleb's memories? I think that Lily IS the monster, and the narrator is either the dad, or Caleb's conscience, trying to divert Caleb AWAY from the Lily-monster. there's a scene with a car that got in a crash, with a frozen image that to me looks like a humanoid figure running. if Lily was born in 2005, that would mean she's 13, if something DID happen to her in 2018, which would put her at a safe age to drive in the front seat, or practice driving in some states, with her father or mother. was she the one that crashed, or the father? also there's the door. the father is heard yelling, "what did you do, open the door." Its obvious the father is mad, and trying to hurt the kid behind the door. maybe the father was drunk, causing him to crash then return home in a rage that led him to do something to his daughter in 2018? or did CALEB do something to lily and the father is trying to confront him? if that's the case, maybe the monster IS lily, or an amalgamation of her that keeps reminding Caleb of his past. the narrator might represent the father, cuz when Caleb goes toward the alternate endings, he asks "what are you doing" in a fit of rage, like the father asks "what did you do" in the same way. if that's true then the narrator is the father, trying to face Caleb AWAY from the monster and, in guilt, refusing to acknowledge what happened to lily, just like he refuses to acknowledge the monster. also the narrator says things like "i corrected all your mistakes and kept you in the right path" which is something fitting the role of a father of a 13 YEAR OLD KID. if that's true then the MONSTER is LILY, trying to claw its way back into Caleb's memories, and show him the truth. which would explain why the narrator gets pulled away when going into the alternate paths, because they are places the father cant reach, or is AFRAID to reach.
You are ONTO something bro 😭😭 the narrator could actually be the dad 🙏
@triple_crownzbro im ONTO sum im telling you 😭✌️
@Aris_Moon16You are bro 🙏 Can’t wait for this next episode cause I want to know what actually happened to lily that got Caleb acting like this 😭
@triple_crownzik bruh 😭
Yo its actually crazy how this game puts together the environment. This dude always like "this environment is insane," that's because in the very beginning they tell you its Caleb's mind. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT WHEN YOU PUT IT ALL TOGETHER BRO. THE NARRATOR HINTING TO "GUILT" INSTEAD OF FEAR??? LILY??? THE DOOR SAYING "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???"
Stinking the Subliminals up bruh😭
8:12 HE FORGOT TO FILL THE ACTUAL PART AND TOOK IT AND PUT IT HERE 😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔💔
38:42 3FS getting straight teeth yo😭✌.
7:18 am I the only one that thought my phone died or smth
29:37 ngl whenever you go in the dark it makes the reflection on the eyes look like pupils staring at you
TWO VIDEOS IN ONE DAY?? IS THIS WHAT HEAVEN FEELS LIKE?
Bro STILL hasn’t fixed those headphones…
Do you ever notice how sometimes we grow with games? It’s so sweet to watch, I’m a new-ish fan but I watch your older videos too and I see you when you were younger playing games that are still adding more to their games, it’s so sweet to watch. To see how far you’ve truly come despite me not even being a fan for too long. You deserve to be proud of yourself! ❤️❤️
(Sorry if my grammars butt cheeks on a stick, I’m trying man😭🥀 motivational or what guys, am I right?)
I noticed the same thing, and not just with this channel. I've been watching many channels since I was a kid. It's great when you grow up with a channel, as if the channel is like a friend with whom you grow up and learn new, more complex details about life.
his headphones have been through WAY to much experiences 😭
48:13 frickin' dinner service here that's just a blessing to hear
18:50 learned my lesson not to eat cereal and watch 3FS LOL
29:10 bro got jumpscared by a plushie 😭
17:42 I genuinely dropped my freaking cereal dawg😭 I have to wash my blanket now
i dropped my takis on my all white bed 😭
I don't know if you'll see this Max, but I just survived a school shooting. I'm not lying, I wish, I truly wish I was. I'm genuinely thankful I got out alive, I can still see the guy pointing the gun at me. I'm scared to sleep now, but I'm going to try while listening to this. I love you, Max. You're a great RUclipsr and a greater man. Thank you for existing, for being real.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how kind and thoughtful this guy is? He’s always so careful with his words, even when he has some criticism about the game-he stays fair, never over the top, and always has something good to say about everyone. You’re a true gentleman, honestly you should take a moment to look at yourself and be proud.
You’re honestly so inspirational to me-we’re the same age, and during my time on RUclips I’ve heard so much swearing and so many forced jokes just to get laughs. Then you came along and completely changed what ‘entertaining’ means here. You’ve shown that you don’t need all that-you just need to be genuine, kind, and transparent. Thank you for really make a difference in this world!! love you❤
11:58 Turd slipped right into my drawls
im so happy you posted so soon i thought i was gonna wait for days
You should totally play “the stanley parable!”
32:39 where's the little guy
45:04 did bro's headset finally die???? 😭😭
headphones holding on by hopes and screams
43:42 bro hit a frame perfect
8 seconds yessir
i got a minute late
8 minutes yessir
9 minutes yessir
NERD
16 secs
that headphones is like an heirloom for future generations😭
42:22 - 42:38 Absolute banger
how dare youtube hide this from me for a whopping 30 seconds
15:03 at
the crossroads dont turn left 😡😡😡😡
4:14 ok its clearly that this game is about trauma or abuse
Like
Caleb suffered some kind of trauma so the voice is tryin to help him to get tru it..even tho sometimes forgeting about it is worse than actualy confronting it
42:22 YOU BETTER KEEP THEM BARS GOING WHY DID YOU ACTUALLY HIT THOSE 😭😭😭😭😭
I made a full version of it on my page!
yknow who needs to retire? those headphones
45:50 bet this leads into the next chapter
36:59
scp 087 strikes again
42:51 something to note here is this pixel image looks like a little girl asking for help, possibly drowning? This only shows up once in the “demon mode” and the happy song stops. Could this be Lily? And then when you beat the top high score (which is Lily’s) it turns into just a balloon pixel image and then the monster. I’m sure there are implications here of what it could mean but I’m not sure what
21:23 Kendrick Lamar
42:20. YO. THIS IS SUCH A BEAT
I think I congratulated you on your first Subliminal video about your #8 on trending, and I think it's so cool seeing you grow as a creator, such as seeing you reach 1 mil and being recognized by Cory and Jacksepticeye. I started watching you when Secret of the Mimic, and ever since then, I just loved watching your videos, and I can just tell you put so much effort and love into putting something out there that is actually good and entertaining while still being you and being genuine. I love what you do and will forever support!!
Same here! I saw a clip of him cranking one of the generators in SotM and just knew he was a funny guy. I've stayed here since and I'm just really happy to see him grow as a creator and person!
Yo you missed one it has a cameo from the broken script 👀👀👀
Max uploading two days in a row,this isn’t my universe
7:17 7 seconds of darkness yo what 😭
45:06 its so weird seeing you without headphones
17:40 catching your dad taking a crap in the middle of the night with bathroom doors wide open as a kid